Expert: Aquatic Virus Hits 2 Great Lakes
Pastor Dale Morgan
May 22, 8:24 PM EDT
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Expert: Aquatic Virus Hits 2 Great Lakes*
By WILLIAM KATES
Associated Press Writer
SYRACUSE, N.Y. (AP) -- A deadly, fast-spreading aquatic virus is
reaching epidemic proportions in New York's two Great Lakes and has
already spread into the Finger Lakes region in upstate New York, a
Cornell University fisheries expert said Tuesday.
The viral hemorrhagic septicemia virus - or VHS - has now been
identified in 19 species in Lake Erie and Lake Ontario, including
muskellunge, New York's No. 2 sport fish, said Paul Bowser, a professor
of aquatic animal medicine in the College of Veterinary Medicine.
Equally alarming, said Bowser, is the confirmation of VHS in walleye in
Conesus Lake, which is the westernmost Finger Lake and is the only New
York lake where VHS has been confirmed in a body of water other than the
contiguous waters of the Great Lakes.
"The fact that VHS was found in this inland body of water is
particularly disturbing in that it immediately brings up the question of
how did it get there and what can be done to prevent the virus from
moving to other bodies of water," said Bowser, who along with his
colleagues at Cornell recently developed a new test that can identify
the virus within 24 hours.
VHS was first detected in New York last year in fish from the St.
Lawrence and Niagara rivers, as well as the state's two Great Lakes.
Of the 19 species affected, VHS has caused serious fish kills in six,
Bowser said. In the remaining 13 species, Cornell scientists have
detected the virus but have recorded no "mortality events," he said.
There are approximately 150 species of freshwater fish in New York.
"It has been found in a broad range of evolutionarily distinct species,
both cold- and warm-water families. We don't think there is any species
that is not susceptible," said Doug Stang, chief of the New York
Department of Environmental Conservation's Bureau of Fisheries, which is
monitoring 40 water bodies across the state to track the spread of VHS.
Bowser said he suspects that the virus is spread by airborne or
terrestrial predators carrying infected fish, anglers using infected
bait minnows or contaminated fishing equipment, and as a result of
boating activities.
"Basically, we don't know how it got here, but it's here and it's
spreading," said Bowser.
The virus, which causes internal bleeding in fish but poses no threat to
humans, was discovered in the United States in 1988 in Coho and Chinook
salmon in the Pacific Northwest. VHS made its first known appearance in
the Great Lakes in 2005, killing freshwater drum and muskellunge.
Since then, it has been found in more than two dozen fish species
throughout the Great Lakes basin.
This month, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources made a
preliminary identification of the virus for the first time in the Lake
Winnebago chain of inland lakes about 25 miles south of Green Bay on
Lake Michigan. Confirmation is pending.
VHS-related die-offs killed millions of fish in Lake Erie and Lake
Ontario last year. There have been three new fish kills this year in New
York waters, Bowser said.
In the St. Lawrence River, hundreds of thousands of round gobies have
succumbed and gizzard shad die-offs occurred in Lake Ontario west of
Rochester and in Dunkirk Harbor on Lake Erie, he said.
"In that most of our VHSV-associated fish kills in 2006 were in May and
June, we expect more to occur," Bowser said.
Other species that have tested positive include bluegill, rock bass,
black crappie, pumpkinseed, smallmouth and largemouth bass, northern
pike, yellow perch, channel catfish, brown bullhead, white perch, white
bass, emerald shiner, bluntnose minnow, freshwater drum and burbot.
Containing the spread of the virus in New York will require restrictions
on the movement of live fish, testing fish and surveillance, Bowser said.
"There will be inconveniences and disruptions that will occur. However,
to do nothing could be disastrous," said Bowser, adding that VHS
threatens the state's $1.2 billion sport-fishing industry and could have
a devastating effect on aquaculture.
Last year, New York enacted a series of emergency regulations to curb
the virus' spread, such as requiring that bait fish be used in the same
body of water from which they were collected unless they have been
tested. Those regulations will likely become permanent next month, said
DEC spokeswoman Maureen Wren.
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On the Net:
DEC emergency regulations: http://www.dec.ny.gov/press/28757.html